Ask for Anything

 

God’s grace, peace and mercy be with you. My sermon is entitled “Ask for Anything,” and my focus is our Epistle (1 John 5:9-15) Let us pray. Heavenly Father, the psalmist wrote, “I rejoiced when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’” Now that our feet are within your gates, we rejoice to hear your Word. As we listen, may your Spirit enlighten our minds and move our hearts to love deeply as Jesus loved. This we pray to you, Most Holy Trinity. Amen.

What do you ask from God? Are your requests personal, familial, professional, ecclesial, societal or global? Do you ask God for eternal life for yourself and your loved ones? A long life? A healthy body and a healthy mind? A successful, wealthy career? Do you pray for the church? For our Synod’s leaders and pastors? For our members and Christians everywhere? Do you pray for our nation and neighborhood? Our police and border patrol officers, first responders and health care workers, military personnel and judges? Across the globe, do you pray for people’s needs? For families starving for food, religious freedom and relief from oppression? What did you ask from God today?

Let us ask God for anything, but first let us ask God to help us understand this passage. Let us understand this passage as John wrote it, as Luther interpreted it, and as we might apply it.

John opened today’s passage, “If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son.” We believe an eyewitness’s testimony. When one witnesses an event and shares the recollection with family or friends, on social media or in court, we regard this testimony as reliable. We accept testimony from men, women and children, should we not accept the testimony of God? We believe others when it concerns earthly matters, should we not believe God when it concerns His Son?

God’s testimony to His Son unified the final passage of John’s Letter. Essentially, John said, “Believers have the Son. Unbelievers do not have the Son. To have the Son is to have eternal life and eternal truth.”

To have the Son is to have eternal life and eternal truth. That was vital in a Greek culture that valued the eternal and esteemed the Ancients, e.g., Homer, Aristotle, Plato. Greeks believed no faith was certain unless its object, foundation, origin and end existed from the beginning. That prompted John to write, if you have fellowship with us – apostolic eyewitnesses – you have fellowship with the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, the Eternal Word.

John urged Christians to be confident, knowing that they alone knew the one true God through Christ and His Church. Think Joe Namath guaranteeing a Superbowl victory. Multiply that superior confidence exponentially and you have John. With an attitude of superiority, he guaranteed victory over Satan, sin and death, and so inspired fellow believers to abide in fellowship with Christ and His Church.

Though John’s letter was classic rhetoric, it appealed to his readers’ deepest emotions. He wrote not only about concepts and ideas regarding Christ and Christians, but also about behavior. John urged Christians to retain their core values against the attacks of the dark powers from whom God promised to protect them. In other words, John taught behavior reflects belief.

Because behavior reflects belief, John galvanized and steeled Christians for struggles against the world, the flesh, the devil and false teachers. If they could endure these things until the day when they would see Christ, they would see Him just as he is. Until then, they could confidently ask for whatever they needed.

Verse 14 reminded them, “To know is to be assured; to be assured is to be confident; to be confident is to ask for the very things that we know that God intends for us to have and to hold.” This assurance was not merely theoretical or a matter of inner personal experience. Christians discovered God’s assurance in life’s ambiguities through a continual relationship with God through His Son and within the common life of the Church, that is, those who share that relationship. … Here is the heart of John’s letter: Divine indwelling, abiding in God, walking as children of the light and all other expressions of belonging to God are not primarily individual but communal. In other words, Christians have fellowship with God only through the Church, not apart from it. That is why John repeated to church members, “Love one another.” Church members are all God’s children and deserve to be loved as His children.

Regarding our epistle, Martin Luther affirmed that no true prayer is unheard and unanswered. Concerning God’s promise, Luther wrote, “Do you mean to say that this promise is always true even though God often does not give what we have asked for? Did He not let David pray for the life of his son in vain? … I have often said how a prayer must be ordered and arranged. In our petitions we should not prescribe to God [some] measure, limit, place or person; but we should commit all … to Him who knows how to give … what is good for us. This is why He … set up this order … in the Lord’s Prayer [and] … put before us three objectives, which must always have precedence: the hallowing of His name, His kingdom and His will. Then follow our daily bread and deliverance from temptation and all troubles. … If this precedes, then that which is ours will certainly follow. Accordingly, St. John says, “If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us …”

Continuing, Luther wrote, “You have His complete will, and God will certainly not think otherwise in His heart than the Lord’s Prayer shows you. …  Therefore, when in trouble and danger … pray for deliverance and help, but in the way the Lord’s Prayer teaches you.”

I admire the simplicity of Luther’s theology. John’s theology, like his Letter, can be complicated, leading to hours of head scratching. Luther’s understanding clarified what John meant. We can ask God “anything, [and] according to his will he hears us,” but we must ask according to how the Son taught us to pray.

As children of God, our common denominator is the prayer Jesus taught. He said, “Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

If we ask for anything according to God’s good and gracious will, we know that he will hear us, but undoubtedly, John’s assurance puzzled countless Christians whose prayers were not answered in ways they hoped. Prayer is not an unlimited ATM card from Jesus, which purchases and produces on demand. Nothing should encourage us to suppose that God will grant anything we choose to ask, simply because we want it. It is the will of God, not the believer’s whim, which is the cardinal rule of prayer.

One who prays should know that God considers and acts on all requests to maximize the coming of His kingdom and the fulfillment of His will. Therefore, we can ask for anything because according to his will, God hears us.

According to his will, God hears us, but at times, we doubt. Like Christians, athletes have doubts, especially when the future seems like an incessant uphill battle. In these moments, athletes must find the strength to push forward, work harder and be better. Some are lucky to have coaches and mentors who put things into perspective and motivate them.

John’s Letter motivated Christians not to win a contest or a crown, but to remain faithful to God through fellowship with Christ through the Church. … Friends, remain faithful to God through fellowship with Christ through the Church.

God gave you what you need to remain faithful to Him through fellowship with Christ and His Church. God answered your prayers and gave you the means of grace. God opened His ears to your prayers through His Word and Sacraments. You have those. What else do you need? Perhaps a small catechism to learn your faith. Friends, learn your faith.

“What you learn no one can take from you,” my father often said. He applied this not only to his profession, but also to of our faith. His religious learning did not end at confirmation, but continued throughout adulthood; and his behavior reflected his beliefs. That inspires me.

My father died in 2003. He was one of many from The Greatest Generation who inspired me more than most of us from the Baby Boom Generation. I have often said that old people are much more interesting than young people, and I am serious about that because experience comes through living life, and the longer you have lived, the more you have experienced.

The elderly ask for the Lord’s Supper. They know Christ’s Body and Blood sustains them through their last days. What they learned about Christ, no one took from them, even on their deathbeds. Behavior reflects belief. That inspires me.

When you enter your last days, will your behavior reflect your beliefs? Will a lifetime of learning about your faith and fellowship in Christ accompany you to the grave? Will your relationship with Christ through his Church inspire anyone? What if you do not live to be 90 or 70? Does your behavior inspire anyone today? Does your behavior reflect belief?

As we come to the end of the school year, a test for you. When you get home, make a list of the people you think you inspire or want to inspire. Next, call them and ask them if you inspire them. Prepare yourself for unexpected responses.

If your behavior inspires no one; if your relationship with Christ through His Church inspires no one; if your behavior does not reflect your belief, talk to God. Ask the Holy Spirit dwelling in you to come alive and then, reflect on John’s words: “If we ask anything according to his will he hears us.” Finally, pray as Luther taught. Children of light, pray to the Trinity for that grace. Pray in Jesus’ Holy Name, and may the peace of God that surpasses all understanding keep your heart and mind in Christ Jesus.